It starts strong, and finishes stronger, does this, the second in what is now commonly known as ‘The ABC’s of horror’, 4 now in print from speculative fiction forerunner Flame Tree Press with no signs of stopping.

The list of contributors should be enough to get you slavering and if you haven’t read the previous volume then I hurriedly urge you to correct that oversight.

There is nary a wrong foot or even toe placed, and given the size of the anthology then you would expect at least one to not maybe have the same effect as another, but in this case, it’s just not true.

So hello to old friends of many years acquaintance (Stephen Gallagher who gave me nightmares as a teen with the televised ‘Chimera’, Jeremy Dyson , whose mastery of the written as well as the visual word has been a part of my life for over 20 years, and Matthew Holness whose writing I am new to, but whose televisual exploits I have recently been introducing my children to).

And nice to meet you to new friends to my bookshelf, Priya Sharma who I believe I came across in another Morris edited anthology, and immediately bought her novella ‘‘Ormeshadow’,

Dan Coxon who again, I was only aware of in an editorial sense and Gemma Files, quickly becoming one of my favoruite writers.

What we have here is a tasting plate of modern horror, and whilst there is no voer arching theme, I would hesitate to suggest there is an essence of loneliness underpinning each tale which in itself is horrifically prescient, landing the year which Covid really turned our world upside down.

And yet, there is a respite offered in each tale of the macabre, the stinging twist that makes you double back to see if you could have guessed it, the gasp evinced from a throat raw and dry from shuddered breath, the prickle down the back bone that is the essential after effect, of this reader, from ending with ‘Yellowback’ by Gemma Files. That left wounds I tell you.

Here are tales of loss and grief, the manifestation of want and desire , the scar tissue that runs a little thin the closer to the surface that you get.

It’s a compilation of stories with author bios which send you eagerly searching for more, and it’s quite incredible that such a plethora of authors offered their works to create an unsettling mix which is never predictable, never boring.

I would say that out of the 20 stories, my favourites were ‘Caker’s Man’, by Matthew Holness and ‘Nurse Varden’ by Jeremy Dyson alongside the aforementioned ‘Yellowback’. I think anyone who reads it would say they react in a different way to the running list, some will dip in and others, like me , will read it front to back , with a notepad, to list new books to look for by authors I had not heard before.

What I enjoyed the most was that I could not tell the commissioned from the new tales, all were presented with equal aplomb and I think there may be a little bit of magic in how the tales veer so much off each other, yet run together so well, if that makes any sense?

So bravo for another offering to the elder gods , thank you Mark for choosing tales which disturbed my peace, each one took me away from reality and out me somewhere different, somewhere dark and where monsters lie. The worst of them have human faces…

"Beyond the Veil," edited by Mark Morris, is an anthology of supernatural stories that offers a mixed reading experience. While it contains a variety of tales that explore the eerie and otherworldly, the overall quality varies from story to story.

One of the strengths of this collection is the diversity of themes and sub-genres within the supernatural realm. Readers will find stories ranging from traditional ghost stories to more contemporary takes on the supernatural. This variety keeps the anthology fresh and provides something for readers with different tastes in the genre.

This one was not for me.
Thank you NetGalley for providing a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Mark Morris is the author of over 30 books in multiple genres. He has edited several anthologies, BEYOND THE VEIL New Horror Short Stories is the first time I've read something he curated.
"the second volume in an annual, non-themed horror series of entirely original stories, showcasing the very best short fiction that the genre has to offer"
I believe the first one was, After Sundown and it was half Invited authors and half selected stories from a sub-call by Flame Tree Press. This anthology was compiled the same way which is interesting because the antho boasts that it's the very best short fiction the genre has to offer which suggests it's comprised in the same way Ellen Datlow's "Best of" anthologies are: Gathered stories. But these are commissioned stories and whatever was submitted in a two-week submissions window. Slightly different arrangement with different results. Readers looking for a "Year's Best" would be better served to stick with the Datlow anthologies.
BEYOND THE VEIL Table of Contents:
THE GOD BAG by Christopher Golden

CAKER’S MAN by Matthew Holness

THE BEECHFIELD MIRACLES by Priya Sharma

CLOCKWORK by Dan Coxon

SOAPSTONE by Aliya Whiteley

THE DARK BIT by Toby Litt

PROVENANCE POND by Josh Malerman

FOR ALL THE DEAD by Angeline B. Adams and Remco van Straten

THE GIRL IN THE POOL by Bracken MacLeod

NURSE VARDEN by Jeremy Dyson

IF, THEN by Lisa L. Hannett

AQUARIUM WARD by Karter Mycroft

A MYSTERY FOR JULIE CHU by Stephen Gallagher

AWAY DAY by Lisa Tuttle

POLAROID AND SEAWEED by Peter Harness

DER GEISTERBAHNHOF by Lynda E. Rucker

ARNIE’S ASHES by John Everson

A BRIEF TOUR OF THE NIGHT by Nathan Ballingrud

THE CARE AND FEEDING OF HOUSEHOLD GODS by Frank J. Oreto

YELLOWBACK by Gemma Files

A very impressive TOC. The standouts here were from Gemma Files, Nathan Ballingrud, Lisa Tuttle, Bracken MacLeod, Josh Malerman, Aliya Whiteley, Priya Sharma, and Christopher Golden.

BEYOND THE VEIL – Twenty New Horror Short Stories In An Anthology Edited By Mark Morris

‘THE GODBAG’ – by Christopher Golden – My Heart! I was not expecting THAT ending, though something similar. Well Done, Mr. Golden, Well Done!

‘CLOCKWORK’ – by Dan Coxon – I Love This One!

‘PROVENANCE POND’ – by Josh Malerman

‘FOR ALL THE DEAD’ – by Angeline B. Adams and Remco van Straten

‘THE GIRL IN THE POOL’ – by Bracken MacLeod

‘A MYSTERY FOR JULIE CHU’ – by Stephen Gallagher – I Love This One!

‘AWAY DAY’ – by Lisa Tuttle

‘POLAROID AND SEAWEED’ – by Peter Harness – Whoa, That Was Creepy Good!

‘ARNIE’S ASHES’ – by John Everson

‘A BRIEF TOUR OF THE NIGHT’ – by Nathan Ballingrud

‘THE CARE AND FEEDING OF HOUSEHOLD GODS’ - by Frank J. Oreto – I was reading this cute story and made the mistake of forgetting for a hot minute I was reading one in a Horror Anthology, that is until … Hahahaha, Nope, No Spoilers! ;)

‘YELLOWBACK’ – by Gemma Files – I LOVE THIS ONE!

Thank You, NetGalley and Flame Tree Press, for providing me with an eBook of BEYOND THE VEIL at the request of an honest review. My sincere apology for the delay in reviewing; not intentional, I assure you.

Like so many horror anthologies, the reader is going to find stories that they connect with more than others. There were about 3 stories, I think, that I truly enjoyed in this book. The others just weren't quite my style and I had a much harder time getting through them. Still, I would recommend this anthology to other horror enthusiasts because I believe it has a little something for everyone. 3⭐️

I am a huge horror fan and reader, and I especially love short story collections because they're the perfect way to discover new authors. However, this collection sadly didn't work for me. Most of the stories didn't feel like horror stories, they felt like typical contemporary stories with a quick horror-like ending. There were a few stories that I loved (The God Bag was incredible!), and I'm so glad I was able to read those.

I love a good collection of short stories and when I saw this on NetGalley I jumped at the chance of reading it.

You often find that an anthology of short stories will often have several good ones, a couple of outstanding stories, and a couple of mediocre or, even, poor stories. Fortunately this collection is ’all killer, no filler’ from start to finish.

My personal favourites were;

‘A Mystery for Julie Chu’ by Stephen Gallagher about a woman who can detect magic in ordinary things, a Mr. Disco robot that channels the dead, and midnight auctions.

‘Yellowback’ by Gemma Files, a stunning piece of cosmic horror, mutating women, and changing worlds.

‘Polaroid and Seaweed’ by Peter Harness, another piece with a lot of creeping horror and metamorphosis, loved the Polaroid Mum bit.

Overall though I enjoyed all of the stories but for me these three shone out.

Got a few of these authors on watch now for anything else by them to read 🙂

Didn't capture my attention and engagement. Interested in trying it again though and hopefully it will take.

Typical with a short story collection. There were stories I liked more than others. Worth picking up.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the eGalley. All opinions are my own.

Many more hits than misses in this timely horror anthology. It's refreshing to read fiction released mid-pandemic that doesn't shy away from the topic as if we're still living in the before times.

Solidly edited, with a good mix of familiar and new names. Worth a shot if you like horror collections.

Editor Mark Morris pulls together another impressive collection of tales for his second general themed horror anthology for Flame Tree Press. Featuring a mix of heavy hitters, industry favourites and newcomers, Morris has selected a fine selection of original tales that hit with an exceptional strike rate. Tone wise, stories range from dark and twisted to eerie and emotional, but all sit firmly in the horror basket.

Curating the perfect collection is a near impossible task because stories that work for some readers will always fail to hit the mark for others. But despite your individual taste, it would be hard to argue that a single tale doesn’t earn its place among these pages.

Personal favourites include Christopher Golden’s excellent The Golden Bag about a son who discovers the dark secrets behind his dying mother’s secret prayer bag; Dan Coxon’s Clockwork about a domestic violence survivor who recreates an animatron man to live out a dark revenge fantasy; and Stephen Gallagher’s A Mystery for Julie Chu, about a memorabilia seller with a sense for purchasing magical items.

Morris has an exceptional eye for fresh and original stories and he doesn’t disappoint here - delivering another fine anthology in what will hopefully become a long line of annual releases.

I love horror anthologies for the range of writers and dark tales they offer, and what better time than the Halloween season to indulge in a spook-fest. Beyond The Veil was conceptualized as a non-themed collection, where writers were included through invitation, and there was also an open submission call for new writers. The stories therefore arise from well known names like Josh Malerman and Nathan Ballingurd, (so the reader knows what to expect and is not at all disappointed), as well as first-time writers (many of whom hold up the quality of the anthology as a whole).

Christopher Golden kicks off the collection with an unsetting tale of parent-child-grandchild relationships in The God Bag. This is followed by Matthew Holness’ creepy neighbour in Caker’s Man. The stories that follow range across out-and-out gore and body horror, to subtle eeriness and atmospheric fear. Clockwork by Dan Coxon and The Dark Bit by Toby Litt were among my favorite stories, for the subject matter and style of writing.

The collection offers a mixed bag of horror and its sub genres. While some stories are superlative in darkness and stand out among the rest, some of the others did nothing for me at all (leaving me to wonder why they were in a horror anthology). I love the genre and read across collections, novellas and novels. I just didn’t feel the stories came together as a book.

My rating is based on the few outstanding stories that are so good, it makes it worth buying the book. A majority of the stories were disappointing, but the few good ones deserve to be read.

Flame Tree Press has become one of the best horror publishers in the past couple of years. Every release from the publisher has become a must read for me. Beyond the Veil, edited by Mark Morris, is an annual anthology of some of the best dark fiction following 2020’s After Sundown. I dove into the anthology hoping for some great dark short stories to sink my teeth into.



Beyond the Veil starts off with a bang with “The God Bag” by Christopher Golden. This is a very strong story about an old woman who is able to keep a secret from her family until the very last days of her life. It is not surprising that this story is very good given that Golden has been writing for a long time and never disappoints. It also set the bar very high for the stories to come. For the most part, the stories that follow did not disappoint although “The God Bag” remained one of the best in the anthology.



“The Care and Feeding of Household Gods” by Frank J. Oreto is another story that stood out to me. This tale of a stay-at-home dad who turns to homemade gods in order to make his life easier is a haunting story about just how far someone can take things in order to make life more exciting. What starts as a lark quickly turns into something more deadly and spirals out of control. It is a short but emotionally brutal story that takes twists and turns on almost every page. “Caker’s Man” by Matthew Holness is a stark contrast to “the Care and Feeding of Household Gods” in tone but is just as haunting. It is a tale of the strange neighbor that everyone has experienced and wondered what happens behind closed doors. The man who seems kind and unassuming turns sinister as he slowly worms his way into the family’s life. What harm can the quiet and eccentric man next door really be?



Toby Litt turns in a weird yet dark tale with “The Dark Bit.” When a couple finds some type of threads running through their bodies when they enter certain parts of their house, they have to come up with home remedies to deal with them. This is a bizarre and haunting tale about body modification and how people deal with the changes and decline that happens to everyone. One of my favorite authors is also here with “Arnie’s Ashes” by John Everson. This is a humorous and still horrific take on what happens when a dead friend refuses to stay dead. I have always enjoyed Everson’s work and this one did not disappoint.



The star of the anthology is “A Mystery for Julie Chue” by Stephen Gallagher. This story of a woman who is gifted with the ability to find treasures at garage sales and swap meets has her life changed when she realizes how her powers work and why her finds are so valuable. It is a tale of death and loss and the cost that comes with every gift in life. This really is a haunting tale and the best in the anthology.



Overall, Beyond the Veil is a strong anthology. As with any anthology, some stories work better than others and there were a couple in the book that just did not work that well for me. This is expected, though, and Beyond the Veil is a very strong anthology overall. It is highly recommended for fans of dark short stories.



I would like to thank Flame Tree Press and NetGalley for this review copy. Beyond the Veil is available now.

As with any collection of stories there were some that stood out more than others based entirely on my personal preference, but this was a strong collection of stories and there wasn't a single one that I disliked. Standouts for me were Soapstone by Aliya Whiteley, Yellowback by Gemma Files and The God Bag by Christopher Golden. I wasn't familiar with most of the authors before reading this anthology, which is exciting and I will certainly be looking into more of their work in the future.

Solid collection of short horror stories. There were very few misses for me in this anthology, with most stories being enjoyable. I've reviewed the stand-outs for me below.

The God Bag- Good lord, this one was a gut punch. A slow building up of dread where you suspect where things are going, but that suspicion doesn't leasen the emotional impact at all.

Caker's Man- One of my favorite kinds of horror is the slow, creeping one where things are just.... not right. This hits that perfectly, and even uses birthday cake to do it!

The Dark Bit - What the fuck. Bizarre, uncomfortably posh body horror. Quite strange in tone, but I mean that as a compliment!

If, Then- Ever since reading Nathan Ballingrud's book Wounds, I've craved more deliciously dark horror-fantasy blends. This definitely hit the spot.

Aquarium Ward- It's not entirely the same, obviously, but as someone who worked in a nursing home straight through a Covid outbreak, this one hit kinda strong.

Arnie's Ashes- I'm obsessed with horror that's about grief. This hit that spot for sure.

A Brief Tour of the Night- This is the story I was most excited about in this anthology. Ballingrud might just be my favorite modern horror author, or at least one of them. His prose is always gorgeous and laden with emotion, and this one was no different. Another one about the horrors of grief and humanity.

The Care and Feeding of Household Gods- Really enjoyed the darkly comic tone of this one, and I'm not one that usually enjoys horror blended with comedy. However, there was just enough of both in this.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

Following on from last year's anthology After Sundown, editor Mark Morris's new collection of stories Beyond the Veil is an eclectic sampling of modern horror, touching upon so many varieties of the genre beyond the spooky house or violent slasher.

In some of the most shocking stories, the darkness comes from bleak relationships or social isolation rather than the overt supernatural. Consider Soapstone, for example, in which Aliya Whiteley looks at the aftermath of a funeral. Jen has chickened out from attending her friend Sam's send-off. In a sensitive and poignant (and sympathetic) examination of death we see something of what he meant to her, but her reaction seems extreme even before taking a turn for the weird and the horrific. This does though seem to exemplify something about modern society and its capacity for distraction. One of my favourites in this volume.

Or Away Day by Lisa Tuttle, which updates an old folk motif - I won't say which for fear of spoilers. I will just say that the horror in Kirsty's team-bonding weekend seems to lie in her dreadful colleagues and frosty husband - but maybe there's worse in the woods?

Or look at A Mystery For Julie Chu, in which Stephen Gallagher gives us what could almost be a pilot for an urban fantasy series. Julie makes a bit of money on the side by spotting useful stuff in car boot sales and selling it on to auction houses. She seems to have a knack for spotting things that will command a good price for, well, esoteric reasons. Things that aren't auctioned publicly but which will find just the right client. But that can lead to some dark places and reveal some dark secrets. Does the horror come from what's revealed here, or simply from the way it happens? Either way, an enjoyable, twisty and well realised tale.

Clockwork by Dan Coxon is also an eerie little tale, a story of abuse, revenge and obsession in a potentially slightly steampunky alternative present. I loved what it doesn't tell us - why, after a pitiful funeral, a young woman is so eager to dig up her father's rhododendrons. She finds something down there, but was she looking for it? Is what happens after intentional? That mystery adds to the claustrophobic texture of a story set largely in one down-at-heel home. I should say, to the multiple mysteries: we don't get all the answers.

There are also more traditional stories. For All the Dead by Angeline B. Adams and Remco van Straten takes place in the Saltcamp, a small fishing village on, I think, the Dutch coast. It's an atmospheric, sea-drenched story focussing on young Hanne whose father was lost, with many other men of the place, in a catastrophe at sea. The story is steeped in the superstition of those whose lives depend on the unpredictable sea. It's a place and time where customs are fiercely protected and change is distrusted. A real classic ghost story, to read on a dark night when the wind is growing. And years ago (before I was blogging) I loved Jeremy Dyson's collection The Cranes that Build the Cranes - it's great to see a new short story form him. In Nurse Varden, Brosnan needs an operation on his knee, but a pathological fear of being unconscious holds him back. Seeking therapy to overcome his problem, he tries to recall his earliest memory... from what seems liken a simply phobia, Dyson creates a really creepy story of compulsion, bristling with suppression and darkness. A real chiller.

Those are only some of my favourites. Mark Morris has assembled stories from more than twenty writers, some I'd encountered before but most of whom were new to me. It's one of the joys of a collection like this that one will encounter new writers and new writing and, prompted, look out for their future appearances. I think there will be something here for everyone.

In The God Bag by Christopher Golden, an elderly woman, suffering from dementia and other illnesses, draws comfort from what she refers to as her "God Bag" - which contains scraps of paper on which she's written heartfelt prayers, both weighty and trivial.

Caker's Man by Matthew Holness is a really dark story in which so much might be taken more than one way. An innocent gift of cake? A lonely neighbour who simply want to be friends with a young family? Where is the line crossed, and how exactly? Holness's story expertly keeps one doubting, from that first line - 'They keep asking me...' Who are asking, and why, and why don't Toby's answers satisfy?

Priya Sharma's The Beechfield Miracles is set in a new future, decaying UK ('Brexit Britain. Blackout Britain. Britain on the brink.') in which Rob Miller, a notorious journalist, sets out to investigate one of the vestigial reasons for hope - a (perhaps) miracle worker who's giving the poor new hope, rescuing the vulnerable and, we learn, punishing the wicked. What's her secret? We're left wondering if the horror is what surrounds,. or what may come.

The Dark Bit by Toby Litt features a comfortably-off urban couple, Pyotr and Anaïs, who Pyotr admits won't garner sympathy (mid-thirties, corporate... South London') whose lives are about to be seriously derailed (or have been - for reasons the story makes clear, Pyotr is recalling what happened). It's an intensely creepy story of something going gradually wrong. Whether in reality, or in a kind of collective delusion, is never clear but, oh, it's scarily plausible and made me want to switch all the lights on and sweep out all the dark bits ion my own home.

In Josh Malerman's Provenance Pond, Rose plays by a pond at the end of her garden. She meets imaginary friends there. All seems harmless enough, but her parents, and particularly her father, object, telling her she should be growing up. Yes, Rose's friend, especially Theo, seem a bit weird but can this justify what her father does? But then Malerman pulls away the rug, twisting things round so that the whole story appears in a new light, commenting on the relationship between childhood and adulthood and the peculiar dynamics of families. A moment of enlightenment but still a very scary one!

The Girl in the Pool by Bracken MacLeod is a third story exploring the fear and peril to be found in water - but we move from the dark and cold and wind of the Old World to the heat and dappled light of the new, and from seasalt to the chlorine of a swimming pool, as Rory sets out to burgle a wealthy mansion. He's done his homework and nobody should be at home, but makes a nasty discovery. A bitter little example of that theme of classic horror, the trespasser who gets more then they expected, I found this one enjoyable on every level.

If, Then by Lisa L. Hannett is a clever take on a fairytale theme - the briar-encrusted castle, the sleeping princess, the faithful gardener are all there... as are the nobles clearing the thorny growth from the enchanted building. But nothing is quite what it seems here. Hannett pivots her story from charming and romantic to horrific and... other things I won't mention for fear of spoilers... in the blink of an eye. The sounds of the exes from outside may build tension, but it's what's going on inside that brings the real dread.

Aquarium Ward by Karter Mycroft evokes some of the feelings of the current pandemic - the new condition springing from nowhere, overwhelmed medical staff and and an atmosphere of frenzy and even suspicion. But with the presence of mysterious law enforcement operatives hauling away victims, a fatal condition and a miraculous cure, one overworked doctor begins to think they see a pattern in events... grim, heart-thumping horror in this one.

In Polaroid And Seaweed by Peter Harness, my heart really went out to sad little Danile, a boy who never seems to get a break in life. The horror, again, seems to come from humdrum things: a difficult home situation, horrible kids at school who scent blood and go after him like a pack. But, again, there may be worse things at sea? This one definitely left me wondering, and thinking.

Are you intrigued by abandoned urban sites - lost metro stations, for example? If so, Der Geisterbahnhof by Lynda E. Rucker is for you. Set in Berlin, this sees Abby's past reach out to her - in a city that has so much past. Rucker seems to be able to evoke all those layers, all that horror, as Abby navigates her way around the city, eventually receiving an invitation that she she can't quite see her way to refusing. Chilling and unusual.

Arnie's Ashes by John Everson evokes the sticky, seedy horror of the sprawling modern city - the things that may breed in darkness in the corners of the "adult" club, its impact on those living precarious lives in cheap lodgings, and the means that may need to take top defend themselves. Grimly funny, this is monster horror a million miles from the gothic castle or whispering wood.

In A Brief Tour Of The Night by Nathan Ballingrud, we see something of the same world as in Arnie's Ashes - desperate men and women living on the edge, always one payday away from ruin, but the story reminds us that there are others caught up in that world too. Allen, a figure hated and derided in his community is able to see ghosts. But what does he seem to welcome that? Who does he want to come to him on his nocturnal walks?

In their very different ways, though, the two stories that close the book encapsulate for me the essence of horror. The Care And Feeding Of Household Gods by Frank J. Oreto was I think the most horrific story in this book. It's hard to say anything about it without giving too much away - as the title hints, it features a particularly ancient superstition which ought to hold no traction in the modern day but which surprisingly does. Then Oreto takes that idea and lets it run. Where might we end up...?

Finally, Yellowback by Gemma Files is one of several stories here with a pandemic influence. Women are being struck down by a strange skin condition which results in their faces scabbing over, ending up producing a yellow-brown, chitin-like mask whose detaching marks the end of a painful and unpleasant illness, almost invariably resulting in death. The rapid speed of this affliction has produced all sorts of ructions in society, including firing misogyny, but as Files hints there's something else at work besides a new pathogen. The attentive reader may notice implicit references here to something older, deeper and distinctly creepy.

So - overall, this is a very strong collection indeed, one I'd unreservedly recommend.

For more information about Beyond the Veil, see the publisher's website here. As well as visiting the other stops on the blogtour, which are set out on the poster below.

Beyond the Veil is the second volume in an annual, non-themed horror series of entirely original stories, showcasing the very best short fiction that the genre has to offer, and edited by Mark Morris. This new anthology contains 20 original horror stories, 16 of which have been commissioned from some of the top names in the genre, and 4 of which have been selected from the 100s of stories sent to Flame Tree during a 2-week open submissions window.
Well worth the read

Beyond the Veil is a horror anthology that showcases the diversity within the genre. Several of the stories were good, but most were a miss for me, and not many really screamed "horror." That being said, anthologies are great ways to explore a genre and discover new authors.

Thank you NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for the opportunity to read an advance reading copy.

A horror anthology with no particular theme, but none the worse for that. It perhaps leans a little towards stories set just a little past the grim edges of the moment, as in Priya Sharma's near future of ganglords, shortages, and rolling blackouts, where the miracle of the loaves and fishes is reprised at a food bank. Or, further up the social scale, the gentrifying couple of Toby Litt's piece – and yes, I know gentrification has become quite the new horror cliche of late, but even so, this version manages to be authentically horrible in so many ways. Meanwhile, Stephen Gallagher reminded me of my favourite car boot sale from back in the day with his tale of someone who has a knack for finding collectible items, just not necessarily the ones you might think. The collection leans British, but not exclusively so; Christopher Golden is first up, and he's American, as are his characters. And somehow the transactional approach to religion here feels uniquely suited to the land of megachurches and prosperity gospels, even if the eponymous God Bag is a much more idiosyncratic approach to petitioning the lord with prayer. There's also a visit to the ghost stations of Berlin; a warped epiphany in a drowning Toronto; and sometimes we're not in a recognisable country at all, as in Lisa L Hannett's sleeping beauty riff, animated by botanical detail which really makes the image of the overgrown castle pop, even as elements from another familiar story start to creep in. But more often than not, it's back to one or another unlovely incident on this tattered, decaying isle, as in the bullying children and shit-caked beaches of Peter Harness*' nightmarish Polaroid And Seaweed. I think the most memorable one for me was Matthew Holness' contribution, Caker's Man. I do wish he'd go back to doing comedy horror, because between Possum and this, his real horror is far too good at recalling the quiet awfulness of Britain a few decades back, the Britain to which we're rapidly returning.

*Yes, the same one who perpetrated Kill The Moon, somehow come good.

(Netgalley ARC)